Sunday 28mm WWII Barbarossa Game - "The Gates of Kiev"

 This is a Co Pilot AI Assisted Scenario - by which I mean, I asked for a scenario based on 3 players per side but we actually had 4 per side, so I had to adjust it a bit - and some of the things it suggested I ignored (or forgot about in the excitement and stress of setting up the game!)

This is what Co Pilot provided me with:

Wargame Scenario: The Gates of Kiev (September 1941)

📌 Game Setup & Table Topography

The table is oriented with the long side (4.8m) running East to West, and the short side (2m) running North to South.

West Side The Suburban Fringe. Dense apartment blocks, factories, barricaded streets, and tram lines. This is the Soviet Deployment Zone.

Centre Strip The Outer Perimeter. A mix of open parks, anti-tank ditches, concrete bunkers, and scattered wooden dachas.

East Side: The Approach Plateaus. Open fields, rolling hills, and rural roads leading toward the city. This is the Axis Deployment Zone.

The Three Sectors (North to South)

The 2m width is divided into three distinct parallel tracks, assigned to individual player pairings:

Sector A (North) – "The Factory District": Dense industrial ruins, railway tracks, and heavy stone structures. High cover, minimal vehicle mobility.

Sector B (Centre) – "The Main Boulevard Line": The primary arterial road into the city, flanked by wide plazas, a park, and tram lines. High vehicle mobility, lethal open fire lanes.

Sector C (South) – "The Residential Suburb": A labyrinth of wooden dachas, gardens, earthwork trenches, and orchards. Moderate cover, highly unpredictable sightlines.

Order of Battle (OOB) Guidelines

Recommended Rulesets: Bolt Action (Company level), Chain of Command (Large scale), or Flames of War/O Group (adapted for 28mm).   IGNORED THIS!

The Soviet Rearguard (Defenders)

The Soviet forces are poorly supplied but heavily dug in, relying on fanaticism, local knowledge, and pre-prepared ambush positions.

Player 1 (Sector A): Factory Militia & Workers' Battalions. Large squads, low quality (Inexperienced/Green), but highly motivated with plentiful Molotov cocktails and SMGs.

Player 2 (Sector B): NKVD Security Regiment & Regular Red Army. Confident, well-equipped with heavy machine guns (Maxim teams), anti-tank guns, and a single dug-in KV-1 or T-34 tank.

Player 3 (Sector C): Regular Rifle Platoon & Sappers. High concentration of booby traps, snipers, and flamethrowers.

The Axis Vanguard (Attackers)

The German forces possess overwhelming fire support and mobility but face severe penalties if their advance stalls or if they lose too many armoured vehicles.

Player 1 (Sector A): 29th Motorized Infantry Division. Pioneer-heavy platoon equipped with demolition charges, flamethrowers, and half-tracks.

Player 2 (Sector B): 9th Panzer Division. Armoured spearhead featuring Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks, supported by recon motorcycle units.

Player 3 (Sector C): 71st Infantry Division. Standard, highly trained Wehrmacht infantry platoons with strong mortar and light artillery off-table support.

Scenario Special Rules

1. Hidden Deployment & Ambush  DID THIS, KIND OF

The Soviet players do not place their infantry models on the table at the start of the game. Instead, they mark positions on a hidden map or use blinds/markers. Axis forces must physically move within line of sight or within 12 inches to "reveal" the Soviet squads.

2. The "Kyiv Inferno" (Booby Traps)  DID NOT DO THIS (Forgot About It!)

The Soviet players receive six Booby Trap tokens to place secretly in any building or barricade in the West (Suburban) zone.

When an Axis unit enters a rigged building, roll a D6.

On a 4+, the trap detonates, inflicting heavy HE (High Explosive) hits on the squad inside.

3. Lateral Reinforcements (The Multi-Player Dynamic)

Because it is a single 18x12 table, players are not locked out of their neighbours’ games.

Starting on Turn 3, if a player completely clears their own 6-foot Centre Strip section, they may redirect up to one platoon or armoured unit laterally into an adjacent teammate's sector to flank the enemy.

Objectives & Victory Conditions

The game lasts for 8 Game Turns. IGNORED THIS

Axis Victory Points (VPs)

Capture the Blocks (Primary): 5 VPs for every major building complex secured in the Western suburban sector at the end of the game.

Breakthrough (Secondary): 3 VPs for every operational Axis vehicle that exits the Western edge of the board via the Main Boulevard (Sector B).

Soviet Victory Points (VPs)

Hold the Line (Primary): 10 VPs if the Axis forces fail to secure the Central Boulevard plaza by Turn 6.(we made it the end of the game)

Bleed them Dry (Secondary): 1 VP for every Axis infantry squad completely destroyed, and 3 VPs for every Axis tank knocked out.

The first time I have got "most" of my ruined buildings, both mdf and home made cork tile creation, onto the table

The Germans significantly outnumbered the defending Russians - as they should! 

The tank factory which I was defending with the Народное ополчение - Peoples Militia!

I had an HMG team in the bunker and a platoon of militia with them - first shot, a German mortar put smoke on it for 1 D6 turn - Paul rolled a 6, didn't he?!

Hie flamethrower armed assault engineers got right up next to the bunker without my MG team being able to see anything....

But surprisingly, despite a +3 for the flame thrower, the Fascists were repulsed when I rolled 11 and Paul rolled 4 - Urrah!

Down the other end of the table, Chris commanded regular Red Army infantry against regular Wehrmacht troops

Mark was next to Chris and had our single tank - a KV1 - Nicks Panze Grenadiers assaulted it and got one hit, disabling it temporarily

Lots of Germans converging on Chris's position

The second part of Pauls force, carrier mounted assault engineers, move forwards

Chris reveals his secret weapon - an 85mm AA gun in an anti tank role - this was the heaviest calibre gun on teh table, by some way.

Midway through the game, Soviet reinforcements arrived in the shape of a T34 and two T60 tanks - an immediate German artillery stonk knocked out one of the T60's ...

There were six units of German assault engineers and three of them had flame throwers, so the poor old militia took a bit of a pasting!

FIBUA in the tank factory, where the militia held on for quite a while

The Germans on our right flank (John v Chris) made a hard job of it and really didn't make much impact

But in the left centre, Andrew pushed hard against Mark, supported by Nicks grenadiers, The German armour wisely took a back seat, waiting for the Landers to clear a safe path for them to push on into the city

On the Russian left flank ....

.... in the centre ....

... and on the right.

Germans pushing forwards and capturing the first line of ruined housing blocks

Four units of assault engineers supported by MG fire from 2 Hanomags v's the Peoples Militia

The Russian tanks take up a defensive position on the boulevard

The Germans are coming!

Chris (being Chris!) leapt out of his trenches and made a heroic assault on John's wavering Bosche - destroying two units before retiring back whence he came - Urrah part two!

But look how close the Germans are to exiting vehicles off the Russian base line!

The outcome here was pretty certain - the +3 assault engineers wone the combat and because their exit was blocked by the SdKfz 251, the militia were destroyed

Down on the other flank, Chris was still in good shape, and the German attack was making no progress whatsoever

But in the centre the Germans had captured most of the buildings, had total control of the exit road, and were passing their armour through - the game was over!

As is traditional in my AAR's when John is present, I now have a shed load of close up images - many done twice, once in colour and once in period style black and white - I will scroll through and delete any I think are sub standard but most of them will probably pass the test

Soviet Information Board I made for the rural village area - real posters from the web and shrunk then printed at work

The Perrys plastic church a very versatile model!

That is me at the far end - taking a picture!

I think John was right when he said some of the B&W images are the best!

I did like this one - surprise surprise - some of my first ever 3d printed figures from JJG in France

He HAD to get the Propaganda Kompanie out to record the German victory for the Deutsche Wochenschau!

I did ask it for a Wehrmacht uniform (seeing they won) but it told me it could not create unsafe images!!

An interesting bit of info Co Pilot told me when it was creating the scenario:

Soviet F-10 radio-controlled mines, planted by the NKVD and Red Army engineers, began detonating in central Kyiv on September 24, 1941, destroying much of the downtown area and killing German occupiers as well as local civilians.  The Strategy: As Soviet forces retreated during the Battle of Kiev, Moscow ordered a scorched-earth operation, leaving behind hidden explosives and F-10 radio mines in administrative buildings, hotels, and major thoroughfares like Khreshchatyk Street. The Detonations: German troops entered the city on September 19, 1941, and occupied many of these intact, vacated buildings. Beginning on September 24, stay-behind units or remote operators used short-wave radio signals to trigger the buried mines. The Impact: The blasts and subsequent massive fires raged for days, destroying roughly a square kilometer of central Kyiv, killing hundreds of German soldiers alongside local residents, leaving thousands homeless, and later serving as a pretext used by Nazi authorities to launch the Babi Yar massacres

Thanks for dropping by and triple thanks with knobs on for all comments!